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International Journal of Costume and Fashion - Vol. 23 , No. 2

[ Article ]
International Journal of Costume and Fashion - Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 11-22
Abbreviation: IJCF
ISSN: 2233-9051 (Print) 2288-7490 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Dec 2020
Received 25 Jun 2020 Revised 21 Sep 2020 Accepted 31 Oct 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7233/ijcf.2020.20.2.011

Mapping of Human Contact Areas for Application Field of Wearable Robots
Ran-i Eom ; Yejin Lee
Researcher, Research Institute of Human Ecology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea
Professor, Department of Clothing & Textiles, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea

Correspondence to : yejin@cnu.ac.kr

Funding Information ▼

Citation Eom, R., & Lee, Y. (2020). Mapping of human contact areas for application field of wearable robots. International Journal of Costume and Fashion, 20(2), 11-22.


Abstract

This study investigated the current state of various wearable robot technology companies to collect basic data to develop clothing suitable for wearable robots. The companies were examined country-wise and classified by their field of application. Furthermore, body mapping was performed on the human contact areas of the wearable robots according to the field of application. The results showed that most wearable robot technology companies are situated in Europe, Asia, and North America. Classifying wearable robots by the field of application yielded that 50.0%(N=39) were applicable for rehabilitation/ healthcare, 37.2% (N=29) for industrial use, 10.3% (N=8) for military, and 2.6%(N=2) for sports. The body mapping showed that the contact areas of the rehabilitation/healthcare products could be classified as hand, arm, upper body, lower body, foot, and whole body. These types of products have the most diverse categories of contact areas among all the product categories. Industrial products were classified into waist, upper body, lower body, and whole body; their distinctive feature is that the corresponding wearable robots assist only the waist area. Military products were designed to cover the whole body for protection. Sports products were produced for the lower body only.


Keywords: Wearable robot, Exoskeleton robot, Market condition, Body mapping, Contact area

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government. (MSIT) (2019R1A2C1005598)


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